2XV Match Report: A win on the road for the 2XV

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8 Oct 2018

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The 2XV record a bonus-point victory at Braidholm against GHA

​GHA 2nd XV 19 Watsonian 2nd XV 36

Match Report from Stan Buchan;

A glorious day in Glasgow with warm sunshine in October and good conditions for the match between these two National Reserve League 1 teams. Watsonians were soon on the attack, picking up from where they left off last week against Hawick Force, forwards drove and ran and Bell at stand – off varied play well with nice hands and a deft touch with the boot. GHA looked unprepared for this quick start and were soon 7 – 0 down as Hobbis drove over the line and Bell converted comfortably. Watsonians looked well in command with the team going through the phases and looking dangerous every time the y pressed forward with ball in hand. Pressure in the corner resulted in a yellow card for the home tight head and from the resultant line-out Miller drove over for the second try. Bell made no mistake and the visitors moved into a 14 – 0 lead. Scott, McKill and Richardson in the visiting back row were having a field day and finding gaps all over the pitch and it wasn’t long before Scott romped over for Sonians third try, Bell couldn’t convert but at 19 – 0 , Sonians looked well in command. With confidence high they set off in pursuit of the bonus try and after some good scrum pressure they moved play from right to left. With men at hand, Ferguson gave a long flat pass which was read by the GHA winger who picked it off and ran the length of the pitch for a try under the posts. Instead of 24 or 26 – 0 it was now 19 – 7 and GHA had a foothold in the game. Worse was to follow as after a period of pressure on the home line, GHA went over for their second score right on the stroke of half time and without having done much GHA were right back in it at 19 – 14.

No panic from the boys at half –time but some straight talking from the players, not the coaches, a sign of a maturing team and they approached the second half determined to regain the upper hand. From the kick-off, the boys went on the attack and having scored the first try of the first half, Finn Hobbis duly scored the first try of the second half and Bell again converted to take it to 26 – 14. GHA had other ideas and their back row was playing well and making inroads mostly through us which we managed to stop but not before they had made ground and from one such drive they were over for their third try which remained unconverted but the score was now 26 – 19 and GHA were in the ascendancy. Having the ball and scoring with it are two different things however and our defence held firm and on the occasion that we won it back we gained ground, won a penalty and Bell converted to take Sonians 10 points clear. Back came GHA and with 15 minutes to go, Ferguson picked up a yellow card for disagreeing with the referee, suspect the fines committee will want to have a word with him on that one. Whilst he was off, GHA kicked to young Henderson at full back, he set off up the wing, chipped the last defender and won the race to the touchdown. Bell converted and it was now 36 – 19 and we breathed a wee bit more easily on the touch lines. All that was left was for Crombie to come on and play his first game of the season for the Club and lend his considerable experience to the cause and for Chris Bell to get a yellow card for trying to catch the ball and knocking it on!!!! GHA were attacking but young Bell went to catch it with both hands not a desperate single handed flap at the ball and the ref decided to send him to the bin. We held out for the remaining couple of minutes and registered our third win in a row. Not too bad for a Club missing 22 players from 1s and 2s this weekend.

We welcomed two new players to the team on Saturday in Tristan Cumming (ex-GHA) and Andrew Conaboy (ex-RDVC) and we also welcomed back Matt King from the 3s and Charlie Fullerton from Merchiston. All contributed to a good team performance although Matt’s ribs will be a wee bit sore for the next couple of weeks. An increased player pool should hopefully see more boys at training and an opportunity to develop the team and challenge the league leaders. Next week off to Marr.

Man of the Match: Close run thing between these two but Chris Scott just pips Charlie McKill.